Changing Fates
by Esherymack
Summary: Semi-AU, Eventual Lokane. After Odin's success in sentencing Thor to Midgard, he decides to send Loki as well. Unfortunately for Loki, the folks back home seemed perfectly content to forget about him completely until much later, when they decide they need his powers once more. Well, the trick's on them- Having assimilated more or less fully into mortal life, problems arise...
1. Chapter 1

A/N: SOOOOOOO. *clears throat* Basically to make a long story short, I happen to have all the updates for all my other stories written out. Downside is, I am doing all of this on an iPod Touch! I'm going to try and get everything updated again (another thing, I just got over a nasty chunk of life and I'm just now getting back on my feet). So, yes, I have the gall to start a new story and then update everything else. Also, I am now a *huge* Lokane shipper. This story is semi-AU after Thor and before Avengers/Thor 2. And it's ridiculous. And assumes that Avengers/Thor 2 never happens. Woo. Disclaimer: Thor is Marvel's creation. Not mine.

* * *

"You have got to be kidding me." Jane Foster rubbed her forehead exasperatedly.

"That's not Thor," Darcy deadpanned. Jane gave her a stern look that spoke volumes. Darcy giggled and continued staring at the pale, dark-haired man at her feet. As soon as Jane had picked up the atmospheric anomalies that had arrived with Thor the first time, she had grabbed Darcy and flown to the site, assuming it was Thor once more, carrying through with his promise to return for her that he had made four days ago. One could only imagine her disappointment to find a completely different Asgardian at her feet.

She nudged said Asgardian with the toe of her shoe. The man groaned and his eyelids fluttered, revealing brilliantly green eyes. "Wha... You. You're Thor's woman." Jane bristled.

"Is that how you greet every stranger?"

The stranger chuckled softly. "Oh, the irony. First he sent Thor to be tamed by the mortals, and now he sends me. No matter. I'll be out of your hair in a few days, given you do whatever you did to my broth- Thor."

"No way. Jane, this dude knows Thor," Darcy stated. "You know Thor," she continued, speaking right to the stranger that had now sat up. She offered him her hand, which he stared at. "Come on Jane, he knows Thor. We can hold onto him for a few days." Darcy had a point. Jane groused, but dragged her feet back to the van. Darcy dragged the stranger to his feet to follow after.

* * *

"My name is Loki. Call me that. No nicknames," he added, pointedly, towards Darcy, who had taken to calling him Mysterious Space Man.

"Loki, as in brother of Thor?"

"He is not my brother," Loki seethed. "He and my... Odin, and Frigga, all of them, are liars. And I am trapped here."

"Because that's such a bad thing," Jane drawled, leaning against her desk and giving Loki a critical eye. "You sent that Destroyer here, didn't you?" Loki sighed and nodded. "No wonder your people wanted to get rid of you for a bit," Jane scoffed. Loki felt his rage float to the surface once more, but he suppressed it- if he snapped on a Midgardian, he'd never return to Asgard. He would never get his revenge. Oh, but how joyfully wrong he was.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: And chapter two, which is more like chapter one, but counting like that confuses me hopelessly. So chapter two. Then yes, I'll get to the other stuff. Slow typing and all. You know how it is. Disclaimer: Thor = Marvel's, not Esherymack's.

* * *

Time lapse: Two and a half years

* * *

"Luke, Darcy, what are you guys doing here so early." Jane Foster was not a morning person. Loki had learned this early, and the hard way.

Jane wouldn't let him forget it, rather.

Jane stepped aside, allowing the tall man and his shorter companion to enter. Loki threw her a grin. Jane was still unused to his presence- Loki seemed to have assimilated flawlessly into Midgardian society. He attended university under the name Luke Orwin, majoring in astrophysics, and was serving as Jane's suddenly-more-qualified-than-Darcy intern, much to the latter's displeasure. Despite this, Loki and Darcy got along rather well, leaving Jane to her conjectures. He had even drastically altered his appearance and forsaken magic. Now, rather than tall, dark, and mysterious armoured warrior with strange accessories, he looked, suffice to say, average. He'd shorn his hair in favour of short and curly, his eyes as piercingly green as always, and relaxed in dark jeans and a blue-gray t-shirt that masked his somewhat softer muscles.

After living on a steady diet of ramen, cheese curls, and carbonated beverages, the ex-god was losing his muscle tone. That's not to say he wasn't still good-looking. Jane would probably even venture to say that he was the best looking astrophysicist she'd ever seen, as most astrophysicists don't have time to worry about clothes and their hair.

She grumbled something about new calculations for the Einstein-Rosen Bridge equations, and jokingly, he clapped a hand over his ear. "Sorry, didn't hear you. You need to get some coffee or something." Jane glared, Darcy giggled. This was average for the three of them. At least, Jane reasoned, they hadn't marched into her bedroom at five in the morning with a radio blaring "Let It Grow" from a children's movie called The Lorax. If the inspirational, uplifting beat did anything, it was piss her off and chase her two interns down the stairs.

Now that she thought about it in depth, she didn't understand why Loki hadn't been taken back to Asgard a week after his arrival like he'd thought he'd be. A year and a half into his planned doctorate and already utterly brilliant in his field, though, Jane could see why he wasn't complaining.

A harsh hammering on the door startled all three of them. Jane looked over to the door, eyes wide. "It's open?" she called, curious. The door swung open, and four figures stormed inside, and directly to Loki.

"Loki," Thor ground out. "Asgard needs you."

Loki jumped to his feet. "First, it's Luke. Second, Thor, I'm not so sure bringing me back would be such a good idea."

"And why is that?" Thor demanded.

"Luke hasn't been a step out of line since he's arrived. He's working on a doctorate in astrophysics right now, in fact. He's forsaken his magic." Jane stepped in, eying Thor warily.

"Yeah. I happen to like my life now, Thor. No Thanos whispering in my ear now. A bright future. Friends."

"Does that really matter, though? When your homeland is in danger, brother?"

* * *

Note: Imagine Tom Hiddleston. Black hair and green eyes. You got AUish Loki.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: So I'm on a computer for a while, under the guise of homework. I'm glad people seem to enjoy this, despite only one review. As for you, Guest, I have done my homework ;) I've read a good deal of Lokane fanfics, decided what was cliché and what was original, picked some ideas, tossed around some AU, and I intend to try and keep something that is new and refreshing for your personal enjoyment and to get this out of my brain.

Disclaimer: Loki, Thor, Jane, all of it is Marvel's.

* * *

"Danger." Loki repeated the word with suspicion. He sagged back down onto the futon and put his feet up on the table, fiddling with a loose thread on his shirt. "What kind of danger could Asgard _possibly _be in, Thor? It's not like I'm there to cause trouble anymore."

"First," one of the other three members of Thor's party said, "What in the name of Odin has gotten into you, Loki?"

"Luke, Sif," Loki stated. "And y'know. After Asgard made it obvious that no matter what I did, I wouldn't be going back home anytime soon, I gave up trying. I just… melted in."

"But Midgardian garb? This sorry excuse of a home?"

Loki shrugged. "It's cozy! And these clothes are surprisingly comfortable. And it's kinda hard to assimilate if you're flouncing around in a horned helmet."

"Gods, you even _sound _like one."

"And is that a bad thing?" Loki demanded, his eyes flashing. Jane stepped between the two again.

"Luke, Sif, both of you, back down."

Sif glared. Loki complied, leaning back once more. Darcy just looked confused. Thor looked angrier than he had upon entering.

"I thought you liked these people, Thor?" Loki asked, his eyebrow arching elegantly.

"A wise king is kind to all, Lok—Luke," Thor finished, sounding defeated. "You were never a kind man to begin with, this… this _life you're living now is not your life_."

"It is now…" Loki mumbled. Darcy stood and grabbed Loki's wrist.

"Hey Luke I heard there were some cool constellations visible tonight, let's go get some equipment set up for later," she said loudly, in a rush, as she dragged him up the steel staircase. Thor watched them go.

"What is wrong with him, Jane. Did he hit his head to hard?" he demanded of the slight astrophysicist by his elbow.

"What's wrong with _him?_" she demanded, jabbing a finger into Thor's armoured chest. "There is _nothing _wrong with him! Does anyone in Asgard even remember him?"

"We all do. We were wondering when he would return. He always could, you know."

"That's not what he was brought to believe. He was told that he was sentenced here. He was _pissed_. He assumed that it'd be like it was for you, that he'd be back on Asgard and in line for a throne again in three days or so. Then a week passed. Then two. He got more and more irritable, but he was starting to actually try. He would go out at night and shout for Heimdall to bring him back. Three, four, five weeks after, he just stopped shouting. He was listless for a while. Darcy and I had to _force him to eat something_, we were afraid he would starve, Thor. Whatever punishment he needed, he got it, he was just… homesick." Jane finished her rant with a huff. Thor sighed heavily.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this. He was supposed to just… fall. Float. He wasn't supposed to land on Midgard."

"Well he did. And he was forgotten, and it pretty much ruined him."

"When did this happen, Jane?"

"When did what happen?"

"When did he become… like you? Like the other Midgardians?"

"I don't know. He came over one day, wearing normal clothes, he had breakfast, and he sat down, and we talked. About some pointless stuff, then he started… talking about just getting a life of his own. We came up with Luke Orwin, he decided he'd do something he was good at… and we got to work."

"And how many Midgardian years has it been?"

"Almost three," she mumbled. "Two and a half, maybe. Why?"

Thor rubbed his face. "He doesn't plan on backing down, does he?"

"Why would he?" Jane demanded, her temper rising once more. "Why would he back down from this now, when he thought he was forgotten by his home? When he is doing well in school, and has a solid friendship with Darcy? He probably doesn't even remember how to cast a spell!"

"Why would someone forget centuries of knowledge in two years?"

"I don't know. But whatever it is, he's been avoiding magic. You heard him. 'No more Thanos whispering in my ear.' Whatever. He doesn't miss it."

Loki and Darcy clomped down the stairs again. Jane stared at them past Thor, then her gaze flicked to the other three Asgardians. "You should look somewhere else, Thor. Loki doesn't want to go back, so he doesn't have to."

"But—"

"Just… go."

Thor stared, unused to being denied. "Jane," he began, but she turned away.

"Luke, Darcy, did you two set up some telescopes or something?"

"Yeah, we did. There's supposed to be a clear sky tonight," Darcy reiterated. Jane nodded.

"It'll… keep us busy, at least? While you finish the new doohickey?" Loki asked, as if he needed his boss's permission to look at the sky.

Jane smiled gently. "Of course. You guys just keep it down, I need some focus."

Both interns grinned and sat down again. Jane watched them for a minute, and then let a breath she didn't know she had been holding in.

* * *

"Luke, are you sure about this?" Jane tapped her fingers on his windowsill as she leaned against said window. Loki shrugged.

"About what?"

"Are you sure about, y'know, living here."

"Jane, if I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be here. I would have used one of my other ways off of this planet to get back home. I just… actually wanted to try, y'know? I wanted to try and redeem myself… somehow."

"Luke, you helped with the local rebuilding association for some community service hours, right?"

Loki nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, you made up for that. I don't know what else you did, but at least of all the organizations you could have picked, you picked one close to you and you redeemed that." Jane finished her lame attempt at making her intern feel better and awkwardly shrugged.

For whatever reason, Loki's eyes brightened a little. Jane decided that she liked the human qualities of him. Asgardian or not, he could pull off a human any day, unlike his loud, unruly brother. She could see that much, now. Why, pray tell, she ever fell in love with Thor in _three days_ was beyond her. The man was as dull as a crayon. Not even a Crayola, at that.

Compared to him, Loki contrasted in every way. He was lithe while Thor was broad and clunky. Hell, his sense of _humour_ was better than Thor's, and Thor was apparently a guy that everyone loved.

"Jane?" Loki waved a hand before her face, concerned. She jumped out of her thoughts.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just thinking about what happened the other day."

"With Thor?" Loki laughed. "Please. Jane, I would not leave Earth to go back and suffer under Thor for anything."

"But you miss… your home, don't you?"

Loki gestured around him. "Home," he said firmly. "Asgard was… beautiful. But its people are flawed. They cannot seem to see past their own shadows, and their vision is clouded by their golden hair."

Jane chuckled, realizing that his statement seemed to describe Thor perfectly. "Yeah. But you speak about it like it's not your home to begin with," she inquired.

"Um, yeah. About that."

"Hm?"

"I'm not actually… Asgardian. I was born a Jotun. A frost giant, basically."

"I thought they were monsters?" Jane asked, curiosity lining her features. "Are they?" she asked, wincing when she saw his hurt expression.

"Not really. They just don't like Asgardians."

"Oh," Jane mumbled.

"I can see why," Loki muttered. He blinked and shook his head. "I can't be thinking like that again though. That's the kind of hate that… made me do what I did."

Jane patted him on the shoulder, letting her hand linger.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: So I really do love the feedback, those of you that reviewed. Yeah, now that I'm looking back at it, I really don't have much method to my madness... so I suppose the best way to plotify this would be to write more chapters and sorta... touch down on everything that was commented on. :D Sorta. Ish. I dunno. moar review, help me guys, I haven't written for damn near a year, so I might be a little shabby yet.

Disclaimer: Marvel owns Thor and Friends.

* * *

_Insufferable Midgardians_, Loki thought.

He'd been putting up with them for nearly three years, attends a 'university' under a false name, and still can't get used to the slang rolling off his tongue.

Darcy was fiddling with the telescope he'd helped her set up earlier. He was currently lounging on a nearby chair, mentally naming every star he could see.

_I already know this, know this, know this..._ he thought, breathing a sigh. Feigning curiosity for his Midgardian life was utterly boring at times. He could hear Darcy muttering to herself about some foggy lens or other, and he took the opportunity to slip silently down the stiars.

Inside Jane's lab, it was cool, quiet, and dim, the only light coming from the lamp where Jane hunched over her 'doohickey,' which was the 'technical' term that Darcy had taught him early.

"Back down so soon?" she called across the room without looking up.

Loki shrugged. "You know Midgardian stars do not hold my interest." Jane pursed her lips and scrunched her brow.

"Midgardian?" she asked, both curious and joking. Loki shrugged again and sat on the worn futon that he'd occupied earlier.

Shortly thereafter, Darcy thudded down the stairs, looking shaken. "Hey, um, guys, I think we have some company..."

Jane looked out the window at the three black SUVs that had pulled up, and narrowed her eyes as Thor clambered out of one of them. "Are you kidding me," she muttered darkly. Loki felt a curl of dread. Thor had decided to use force to bring him back to Asgard.

Hammering on the door. Jane opened it silently, revealing a grim Thor. "How dare you?!" she exploded, but Thor simply looked past her.

"I am sorry, brother. But you must return to Asgard, at least for a short time."

Loki put on his best "young, angry Midgardian" expression. Thor was unfazed, so he dropped his act and glared with the full brunt of his irritation. Thor couldn't just waltz in and deconstruct the life that he had carefully put together, could he?

Evidently, he thought he could. Jane sighed in defeat, looking past Thor to the armed SHIELD members. "Luke, I see no point in arguing. You'll let him come back, won't you?" she addressed Thor softly. The warrior looked exasperated.

"I will do what I can, Jane Foster," Thor rumbled, raising his hand over his heart.

Loki changed from angry and irritated to cold. Cold as he stalked from his comfortable seat, into the cool night, and continued his lounge inside the SUV that Thor had arrived in.

* * *

"What kind of danger, exactly?" Loki asked Thor, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Thanos, looking for his minion. His armies."

"His... minion?" Loki sputtered. "I promise you, I was _never _his minion."

"That's not what we were brought to believe. Your instructor said that your magic was... different, if anything, from normal magic."

Loki shrugged. "That means nothing. Everyone is different when it comes to these kinds of things. And anyways, I'd been hearing whispers every time I cast, tempting me. That's why I stopped using magic after I got to Earth... er, Midgard."

"But not before?"

"It didn't start before, only after. He kept talking about a lost boon, how powerful I was... I reasoned it wasn't too good to keep listening. And eventually, my research led me to Thanos. So, I stopped feeding him."

Thor sighed heavily, realizing that his brother's avoidance of Thanos may have brought this, and the siege on Asgard, upon himself.

"Loki..."

"Call me Luke. Please."

"Why?" Thor demanded, tired of Loki's Midgardian mindset.

"I put my life behind me after I was all but abandoned here. Luke Orwin. Not Loki, not anymore."

"Loki, whatever happened, you are making no sense!" Thor raged, slamming his clenched fist into his thigh. "The fact that I need to use Midgardian force to drag you home, to fight the war that you inadvertently started, else Thanos destroys everything in his path to reach you..."

Loki felt old power stir angrily, but he swallowed it dry, tracing tiny circles on the worn knee of his jeans. He was silent for the remaining trip to Thor's selected site, and merely closed his eyes against the brilliant white light welcoming him to Asgard once again.

* * *

Asgard was in chaos, Loki noted.

What had once been a shimmering city of gold and ocean was now a smouldering mess of broken buildings, ash, and murky water. "Most citizens now reside under the palace, in the dungeons," Thor explained the barren streets. "Most attacks come at night. They are relatively safe down there."

Loki nodded numbly. He noticed himself shaking. Thor turned to look at him. "Brother, you stand out much too clearly. Aren't you going to...?"

"I'll just find something later," Loki muttered. "I will not use magic, Thor, not with... insanity... looming on the horizon."

Thor was silent, but gave Loki a shove to keep him moving. Their slow midday progress was held up only by crumbling debris.

* * *

"Thor, why have you brought this... traitor back? Let him remain in Midgard or put him in chains, but do not bring him here for war!" Odin was rather angry with Thor's decision. Loki stared stoically at Odin, a flicker of what could have nearly been gratitude ghosting his face.

"That's not entirely true, Father- Loki refuses to touch his magic."

Odin's eyebrows drifted. "Is this true, Loki?" he inquired of the man in front of him. Loki nodded.

"When I fell to Midgard, my magic began to... speak to me. It began to whisper terrible things and to tempt me. So I sealed it away." Loki ran a hand through his hair. "Look, when can I go back? I have work to do."

"What kind of work could you possibly have to do on Midgard?" Odin demanded, looking confused and angry.

"I intern for Jane Foster, and I'm a student of Midgardian astrophysics. It's... simple work for me, but she seems to appreciate my insight into Einstein-Rosen Bridges- the Bifrost," he explained quickly.

Odin rubbed his face. "Loki, why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Playing the part of a mortal! How long has it been since Idunn's Apple has passed your lips?!"

Loki shrugged. "Two years? No matter, I'm good as a mortal now. Most people just see me as a 30 year old mortal. And no more. No more magic, no Apple, no war."

Odin seethed. "But why! Why, Loki!"

Loki scowled. "I was forsaken. I was forgotten on that Gods-forsaken planet, and I dealt with it in the most reasonable way possible. It's not as if I can just waltz around in armour, casting spells, and not expect any unwanted attention. I had to make a life for myself, and I did. Is there a problem with that?!" Loki was yelling now, getting closer and closer to Odin's throne. Finally, Thor pulled him back. Odin sighed heavily.

"We never forgot about you- we simply did not _know _you had landed where you should not have. We could not find you for the longest time, Loki- you were hidden even from Heimdall. Why? When we would have gone for you?"

"I don't know," Loki said, defeated. "I honestly have no idea." He turned pleading eyes to Odin. "Father, please, let me go- I am of no use."

Odin sank back into his seat. "You refuse to fight. You refuse to use your magic. And I cannot make you." Loki's heart lightened. Perhaps-

"Take him to the dungeons. He can help the healers."

* * *

"He cannot make me use magic," Loki muttered darkly as he followed the bustling healer. She'd stuffed him into pale blue healer's robes and was dragging him among the wounded. She tutted.

"Help me wrap wounds then. We only use magic on the most dire of injuries now."

On any normal day, Loki would have been sitting in the lab in comfortable jeans and a shirt that didn't pinch his shoulders, explaining Jane's science to Darcy, or eating lunch at the diner with them, or practicing his Midgardian quirks such as dance when excessively happy or enjoying cheap wine and stupid jokes on Saturday nights. Not holding a seeping, bloody wound shut to be stitched and bandaged.

As soon as the healer finished, he sank down between the rows of soldiers, chin on his knees. "You've gained heart, Loki," the healer murmured to him, stooping. "I know not why you are down here instead of out fighting, but I am glad for your help." She shook him and heaved him to his feet by taking his hand.

* * *

Gray clouds swarmed overhead, but Jane didn't budge from Loki's usual seat. She missed him, insufferable as he was. It had been two days too long without him, and she never realized how much she had liked the surprisingly funny, interesting, and friendly Asgardian.

The clouds swelled again, and wind roared in her ears. Darcy appeared behind her, shouting something about coming inside. As Jane stood, Darcy shrieked and pointed at something behind her. When she turned, all Jane saw was darkness. A sharp pain sparked fire from the back of her head, and she collapsed into an ugly pile, dead to the world.

* * *

A/N: So I think I covered all the stuff that reviewers pointed out. I typed all of this on my iPod at school today, and I think I covered it all. I think. Thiiink.

Please, review more. Like I said up there, I'm a little shabby still, still getting on my feet, but I'm trying, I really am. I really missed this place :)

Also, to whoever praised my lack of autocowrecks: It's pretty easy to avoid them- just turn it off! :D


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